Long before he became one of Bollywood’s most influential filmmakers, Mahesh Bhatt was a devoted follower of spiritual leader Rajneesh, widely known as Osho. His association with the movement in the 1970s is well documented, but his decision to walk away remains one of the most dramatic episodes of his personal life. Now, his daughter Pooja Bhatt has revisited that period, recalling the fear, uncertainty and emotional turmoil her family experienced after Mahesh decided to leave the Rajneesh movement.

Speaking on the Cyrus Says podcast, Pooja described the fallout as intense, revealing that the family was allegedly warned about Osho’s anger after her father severed ties with the spiritual group.

Recalling what happened after Mahesh Bhatt left the Rajneesh movement, Pooja said her father removed the mala he wore as a disciple and flushed it down the toilet. “My father was part of the Rajneesh cult. He pulled his mala off his neck and flushed it down the toilet,” she said.

According to Pooja, the decision had immediate consequences. She claimed that veteran actor Vinod Khanna, who was also closely associated with Osho, delivered a message to her mother saying, “Bhagwan is very angry. Bhagwan is going to destroy Mahesh.” Pooja added that she still remembers being taken to a safe house in Pune late at night as a child following the alleged warning.

Pooja Bhatt’s memories of visiting the Osho ashram

Pooja also spoke about visiting Osho’s Pune ashram during her childhood. She recalled touching Osho’s feet and described some of the practices followed by devotees at the time, including avoiding perfumes and fragrances before meeting the spiritual leader.

Reflecting on Osho’s reaction to people leaving the movement, Pooja compared him to “a jilted lover,” suggesting he did not like followers walking away. She also referred to Ma Anand Sheela, Osho’s former secretary, while discussing the dynamics of devotion and authority within spiritual movements.

Why Mahesh Bhatt walked away

Mahesh Bhatt has previously spoken openly about why he first joined the Rajneesh movement. After experiencing a difficult phase in his career following the commercial failure of films like Manzilein Aur Bhi Hain (1974) and Vishwasghaat (1977), the filmmaker said he began searching for spiritual answers and became one of Osho’s followers. In an earlier interview, Mahesh admitted that he eventually felt he was pretending to be someone he was not.

Despite practising meditation and embracing the movement’s teachings, he realised he continued to experience emotions such as jealousy and insecurity. Feeling that he was living a contradiction, he chose to leave, later describing himself as a “hypocrite” for trying to suppress his true feelings instead of confronting them honestly.

Vinod Khanna’s journey with Osho

Mahesh Bhatt has often recalled that it was he who introduced Vinod Khanna to Osho. Unlike Mahesh, however, Khanna remained deeply committed to the movement and eventually stepped away from his flourishing film career to join Osho’s commune in Oregon, United States. After Osho’s organisation faced legal troubles in the US during the mid-1980s and eventually collapsed, Vinod Khanna returned to India and resumed acting.

Looking back, Mahesh has said that although Khanna returned to Bollywood, the industry had changed significantly during his absence.

Decades later, the Bhatt family’s memories continue to shed light on one of the most fascinating intersections between Bollywood and India’s spiritual movements, one that shaped the lives of several prominent film personalities before eventually becoming a part of cinema history.